Washington County, Maine

View of Lubec from West Quoddy Station

West Quoddy Lighthouse

Dennys River, Dennysville

OLGS and I (and an old school friend who joined us at the last minute), visited Washington County, Maine, the easternmost county in the United States. We went to eat lobster, soak up some of the amazing light, and see whether we wanted to buy or build a second home for our sunset years. Those are fast approaching....

The trip was a disaster as far at getting there was concerned, all thanks to Northwest Airlines. We missed the connection in Detroit because of weather, and couldn't even get to Bangor until 11:00 PM, so went to Portland instead and drove to Bangor. Coming home, we landed in Minneapolis 30 minutes early, and then sat on the runway for 40 minutes because lightning at the airport pulled all the jetway and ground crew workers inside. And they lost our luggage on the inbound leg of the trip.

Frustrating, but being delayed did give us a chance to eat at the Eagle's Nest in Brewer. There are large people eating large portions of food, all enjoying the nice view of the Penobscot River. We saw no eagles, but we did see some otters or muskrats swimming against the tide--if such animals actually venture into salt water. Dinner was really, really, good. The menu calls the lobster roll the "famous" lobster roll. It is deservedly famous.

We had lobster every day while in Maine. Interestingly, the best was in Brewer at the Eagle's Nest and on our way home, in Hallowell, Maine, near the state capital in Augusta. There we had some really good lobster stew. Both Bangor and Hallowell are interior cities, and not on the coast. And did I mention that we stayed in the Coast Guard station near the lighthouse?

Washington County is very poor, as it has been since the lumber industry moved west to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Half of the land and buildings are for sale. This makes it good for folks from away, like ourselves. They need our money; we need their lobster and their light and their access to the sea, which is all around them. And in the real estate agent's office, when we acknowledged we were from Minnesota, we received an outpouring of sadness for the victims of the bridge.

Minneapolis Disaster

From the Guardian

It's hard to write about. An interstate bridge less than two miles from my house, and one that I drive on at least weekly, collapsed during rush hour. An unknown (as of 8/2/07) number of people died; there are still cars at the bottom of the Mississippi River. Witnesses said it was like an earthquake--there was a vibration, a grinding noise, and the structure collapsed with no warning.

I don't personally know anyone who was on the bridge, was injured, or died. But I did talk with one colleague whose husband drove on the bridge an hour before it collapsed. She was shaken. Another co-worker sent out an email about a colleague of her husband's who is missing after the accident; if he has died, he leaves behind four children and a wife who is an East African immigrant. My immediate supervisor has a friend whose fiancee was critically injured; the boss left work at noon to go to the hospital to be with his friend.

Why do we have to have disasters like this for anyone to pay attention to the needs and safety of ordinary citizens driving from work, to a Twins game (they lost), or to the shops? It's a cliche, but we are apparently quite willing and able to spend billions in Iraq and elsewhere on imperialist adventures, but we cannot find the resources to repair bridges at a few million each. This is just nuts. And now we will spend lots of money to inspect interstate bridges throughout the country. This strikes me as a case of closing the barn door after the horse has gone.

Despite the posturing of our governor, it was heartwarming to hear the voices of Minnesotans, with their unmistakable accents, talking to the national media. They were earnest, sincere, and wanted to help. Why can't we do this all the time?